General FAQs

To view the most up-to-date post numbers for each specialty/deanery, please visit the post numbers page of this website.

[NB - the DH medical specialty training office website shows only indicative numbers, and so should not be used for application planning.]

The vast majority of posts available in this recruitment round will have provisional start dates of Wednesday 1 August 2012.

LAT (Locum Appointment [Training] ) posts are intended to be short-term positions of three months or longer. These can become available at any level of training from ST1/FTSTA1 to higher levels in specialist training (obviously here we are dealing with ST3 level posts).

LATs are training positions, and trainees will be given an educational supervisor and training opportunities. Evidence of competences will be documented and can be used to count towards CCT under certain conditions.

Many trainees are keen to take up LAT posts, in some instances to gain experience within a specialty before progressing, or possibly to allow a greater degree of flexibility in their careers.

It should be noted that these posts are different from substantive posts, and do not have a National Training Number (NTN) allied to them.

Also, unlike substantive posts, which run-through over a number of years, obviously a LAT post will end once the pre-defined post length is over, and there is no guarantee of a future post being made available.

At the time at which you submit your application, it is only necessary for you to have passed MRCP(UK) Part 1 to be considered eligible at that stage. This will allow your application to progress further.

However, to take up a post you will need to obtain the full MRCP(UK) diploma, including all three parts: Part 1, Part 2 and PACES. These must all be obtained by the start date of the post.

As such, if - at the time of application - you do not have all three parts, you will need to demonstrate that it is possible for you to gain any that you are missing before the post start date. If it is not possible that you would be able to pass one of the missing parts before the post start date, you cannot be considered eligible.

In short, you cannot be considered eligible unless you have achieved all three constituent parts of the MRCP(UK) diploma (or equivalent) by the time of the post start date, as you will have failed to meet all of the essential entry requirements stipulated in the person specification.

In the event that you are not able to gain the full diploma prior to post start date, one option to consider would be applying in round 2 of 2012 ST3 recruitment. As implied, this will be a second round of recruitment to 2012 ST3 posts, which will likely be held in late summer/early autumn 2012.

More information on round 2 will be available from this website nearer the time, but this round will be independent of round 1, and obviously as this will take place later in the year, it will give trainees more time to gain any parts of the MRCP(UK) diploma they are missing.

Lastly - please note that while LAT posts are subject to the new person specifications in the same way as substantive posts, LAS posts do not need to be; thus in many instances, deaneries may well be looking to make LAS appointments to cater for candidates in this position. Please contact deaneries directly for information here.

Some specialties (eg dermatology, palliative medicine, etc.) accept candidates from alternative training routes (ie not from CMT/ACCS). Applicants must have, as a minimum, the initial part(s) of the exam related to their training (eg MRCPCH Parts 1A and B), and must be in a position to pass the full qualifying exam prior to taking up ST3 training.

Please see the relevant specialty page of this website and 2012 ST3 person specification for more information.

As of 22 March 2012, the conference of postgraduate medical deaneries (COPMeD) produced some revised guidance on how the equivalence to MRCP(UK) of alternative postgraduate medical examinations will be judged - as below:

'The only examinations that should be treated as equivalent to MRCP(UK) for ST3 recruitment purposes (in 2012 only) are:

• MRCP(Ireland)
• MHKCP (Hong Kong)
• MMed Singapore.

'The Hong Kong and Singapore colleges require full MRCP(UK).

'No evidence [is available] to enable [deanery recruiters] to consider any other examinations to be equivalent, and MRCP(UK) is an international examination that is open to all.'

No - ST3 recruitment 2012 will not include a knowledge test at any stage.

No, it is not necessary, nor is it possible, to pre-register - it will only be possible to register from Friday 2 March 2012 onwards.

However, this will not be a problem - once the application system is live, the registraton process is very straightforward and quite quick. Registration will involve you providing an email address by which you can be contacted - this will also act as your username - and a password of your choosing, that you can use to log back into the system at a later date.

Following this, you will need to give details of your GMC registration & licensing, and then read some guidance on completing the form; you will then be registered, and will receive an automatic email from the application system to confirm that you are registered.

We would not expect this process to take more than five minutes or so at the most.

All NTN and LAT posts are entered into the same 'pot' for each specialty; so a candidate wishing to apply for an NTN post in the specialty would complete and submit the same application form as someone applying for a LAT.

Should you be invited to interview, you will be given details of all posts available in the specialty at that deanery*, including both NTNs and LATs; and you will then be able to specify which of those posts you wish to be considered for – this can be just NTNs, just LATs, or some combination of the two, as you see fit.

[*where recruitment to a specialty is being coordinated nationally via a single deanery - ie CPT, GUM or rehab medicine - candidates at interview will be given details of all posts available in the specialty nationally, not just at the deanery hosting the interview.

Please visit the post numbers page of this website; this will include a list of all post numbers and interview dates for each deanery/UoA participating in recruitment to each specialty.

You should be aware of the interview dates, first of all. In the event that you are invited to two interviews which are being held on the same day, it will not be possible to make alternative arrangements if you are unable to attend both, so please do bear this in mind. We liaise with all deaneries/UoAs to try and avoid intra-specialty date clashes where this is possible, but given the considerations all deaneries must take account of, this will not always be a possible option.

Other factors to consider are past competition ratios - these can be viewed in our competition rates page, where possible. These data may give a rough indication of the different levels of competition at different deaneries/UoAs and specialties.

Following the main period of recruitment to ST3 posts within each specialty, there may be some cases where in some deaneries, vacant posts remain once all eligible candidates have been offered posts.

At the same time, there may be a number of candidates who are eligible, suitable and appointable, but who have applied to deaneries where all posts were filled by other appointable candidates.

As such, a period of clearing will be implemented, allowing these appointable candidates to have their applications cascaded to the deaneries/UoAs where vacant posts remain.

For a candidate to be eligible for ST3 clearing, they must have received a full assessment during the main recruitment round - ie had their application form assessed for eligibility, short-listed and then assessed at interview.

The candidate's overall application must have been assessed to be eligible and suitable within the specialty to which they have applied, and their performance at interview must have been sufficient for them to be marked as appointable.

Lastly - any candidates who have accepted a post with an SRO-hosted specialty are not included in clearing.

Those candidates who are eligible for clearing recruitment will be contacted by the RCP-SRO at the appropriate time, and provided with further details on the running of clearing.

If you have been invited to join clearing/LAT recruitment by the RCP-SRO, with the email you should have received an attached spreadsheet, describing all of the vacant substantive and LAT posts which will be made available in the specialty to which you applied during the main round.

The spreadsheet gives specific information on these posts, including post start date, post type, and specific location within the deanery.

If you wish to gain more information on the posts available, we would advise contacting the appropriate deanery/UoA - contact details can be found on the Contacts page of this website.

The next step is to then preference the available posts into a rank order. To do this, place a '1' next to the post you would most like to take up, then a '2' beside the post you would next-most like to take up, and so on.

If there are any posts you would not wish to be considered for, please place a '0' next to it on the sheet.

You can preference as many or as few of the posts 'on offer' as you wish, to the extent that if you only wish to be considered for one post, you can nominate a single post; alternatively, if you wish to be considered for all, you can rank all the posts available.

Once you have completed your ranking, please return your preference sheet to the RCP-SRO via email, at st3recruitment@rcplondon.ac.uk.

No. The scores awarded to your application form and your interview during the main recruitment phase will be used again during clearing.

To be eligible for the Guaranteed Interview Scheme you must have a disability or long-term health condition that is expected to last for at least 12 months and which puts you at a significant disadvantage in either obtaining or keeping jobs. You do not have to be registered as a disabled person to apply under this scheme.

If you wish to withdraw an application which has been submitted, enter your candidate portal and click on the 'withdraw' checkbox. Once this is ticked, please select a reason for your wish to withdraw, and then choose 'submit'. You will be sent an email confirming withdrawal of your application once it has been withdrawn.

Please note - once your application has been withdrawn, it cannot be re-submitted.

It is not usually possible to offer feedback to individual applicants until the recruitment round has closed. However, individual deanery staff, at their discretion, may be able to provide feedback at an earlier point, but you will appreciate they will be very busy during the recruitment period.

The provision of more detailed feedback is at the discretion of each deanery and their ST3 recruitment staff. You might also consider discussing your application with your Supervisor and/or Programme Director.

Help and advice will be available from a variety of sources. Your first approach should be to the UoA/deanery to which you have applied; their website will have contact details for recruitment, or alternatively, the UoAs/deaneries page of our website contains contact details for each UoA/deanery. If the recruitment office within the UoA/deanery is unable to help with your query or complaint, this will be passed to senior medical recruitment staff within the deanery.

If your query or complaint cannot be answered to your satisfaction, it will be escalated to senior recruitment staff in the RCP Specialty Recruitment Office. The staff will review the issues and ensure that RCP-processes (which take into account modern/fair HR Recruitment Practice and DH guidance). All staff will have had the relevant training in Fair Selection process and Equality & Diversity. If a fault in process or in process delivery is found, the RCP-SRO will work with deaneries and applicants to try to rectify the matter if possible and prevent recurrence.

We would very much hope to resolve problems to the satisfaction of the trainee and any other relevant party/ies.

The official name for this specialty, as used by the GMC and the relevant Specialty Advisory Committee, is 'Geriatric Medicine', hence that is how we will refer to the specialty throughout this website and any literature we produce.

It is not uncommon to hear other titles such as 'Care of the Elderly' or 'Elderly Care' used to apply to this specialty; however, these are unofficial titles.

Many trainees are keen to proceed with the next phase of their career as soon as possible, once they have obtained all CMT/ACCS/equivalent competences. However, the following points must be considered.

• The person specifications for ST3 require that trainees must have undertaken 24 months experience after foundation (or equivalent) training. Thus it would be very unusual to be eligible to take up an ST3 post less than four years after qualification.
• Training programmes not only require satisfactory completion of the defined competences; they are also of minimum duration. CMT and ACCS are 24 months minimum - these requirements are stipulated by the GMC, who approve the curriculum and training. Thus even if a trainee has gained all CMT competences at an early stage, there is still the requirement to complete 24 months of CMT/ACCS or equivalent training prior to taking up an ST3 post. It would not be possible to gain a satisfactory ARCP-1 if the training had not been completed.
• A trainee who has gained all competences early could elect to leave a programme early, with an ARCP-4, in order to gain different experience prior to taking up an ST3 post. If the CMT (or equivlanet) programme has not been fully completed, and/or the supplementary experience is not considered to be part of CMT/ACCS training, then the core framework component of the specialty curriculum will be deemed non-standard by the GMC. This will mean that a CCT cannot be awarded, and the training would probably lead to a CESR-CP.

Please note that LAT posts use the same person specification as substantive posts, so the same principles apply. Locum Appointment Service (LAS) posts will individually specify their eligibility requirements; these posts cannot be regarded as training, but may be taken into consideration if applying for CESR.

Applicants should familiarise themselves, where possible, with any training locations in which they would be prepared to work.

'Familiarisation' can be gained in several different ways, including visiting the education provider (trust or practice) websites, using websites that publish feedback on posts from previous post occupants, and speaking directly with the current incumbents of the posts.

A visit to the hospital could be undertaken if arranged in advance for specific reasons, but is cumbersome to arrange and is not required in most instances for training posts. Generic job descriptions should be available on the deanery/UoA website.

In the interests of fairness to all candidates, some of whom may be applying from a distance, visiting the hospital in advance is discouraged, and it is not a requirement to visit the hospital in order to be considered for a post. No advantage would be gained in the recruitment process from having undertaken a visit.

It is increasingly unlikely that a candidate would be asked about their knowledge of a particular training site, and it would not be part of the recruitment decision-making process. Additionally, because coordinated recruitment means that fewer consultants interview on behalf of their colleagues, it is less likely that a trainee would be interviewed by someone with whom they will work. Speaking directly to potential interviewers about their posts could in some instances be regarded as 'canvassing', which is not allowed.